Schools

Anna has started Kindergarten this fall at a "good" public school in our area, but I am still wrestling with the question of what criteria truly account for a "good" school. How can I really, fairly evaluate the effectiveness of a school in educating, challenging, motivating? So I go to www.greatschools.net and compare their school ratings, which are based on test scores within a particular state. But test scores seem inadequate... don't we have to look at who is taking the tests? And all I can come up with is that schools with more "economically disadvantaged" students score worse than other schools. For whatever reason, but there it is. So the "wealthier" students get huddled together by their well-intentioned parents in certain school districts and neighborhoods, or withdrawn from the public school system altogether as is so common here in Savannah, and the other schools suffer for the lack of diversity.

Isn't it entirely possible to have a great school/teacher doing their best with kids who just don't score well on tests - whose parents aren't involved or who have bad attitudes or who live under the burden of poverty? And isn't it possible to have so-so teachers/schools churning out great test scores simply by virtue of the kids they have to work with - motivated kids with involved parents and/or resources? The private schools don't even take the same tests or release the results, and each state takes different tests, so you can't truly compare public vs private or across state lines. How do you really know if a school is "good?" Maybe look at its graduates - where do they go from there? How motivated and "successful" are they?

And then I wonder about even the good public schools. Can I trust the textbooks? The teachers? Will someone with an agenda try to indoctrinate my kids into their way of thinking? Not to sound paranoid, but people's worldviews affect their presentation and interpretation of everything, deliberately or not. Who will be teaching my kids what?

Probably, with all these questions, the easiest thing to do is to go the private route if feasible financially. Or to homeschool (I couldn't possibly!). But I went to public school and turned out alright. And I value the experience of different cultures and want my kids to appreciate that, too. Now I know times are different, but I also know God is the same, and maybe, just maybe, I can trust him with my little ones even when I don't have all the answers the way I would like. So for now our best option is the public school, and we will give it a chance. We will be involved and monitor things closely and pray fervently and go from there.

Costume Fright

I was perusing the child costumes on Ebay today to get some ideas for Halloween. As I searched the 3T boys' category, a costume entitled "pimp daddy" showed up. Out of curiousity I clicked on it, thinking surely the costume was an adult size mistakenly placed in the 3T section. But no, it was for size 3 and pictured a little boy in the costume. So now I'm asking myself, who in their right mind dresses up their sweet little boy as a pimp?!?! As Will likes to say, "What the heck?" Something is very wrong with the world.

Summer Vacation

Our family went on vacation recently, driving from Savannah to Pittsburgh in about 16 hours over two days. "Two days of forever" as Jon has said. We hadn't been on a big trip since before the kids can remember, so it was exciting for all (except Evan, who is not impressed by such things yet). I must admit the drive reawakened my love for moving about in the world. The call of the open road, seeing the landscape, pondering the possibilities that lie ahead, meeting people along the way... like the miner with his arthritic Australian Shepherd who ran after the ball Anna and Will threw for him at a rest area; or the friendly Pittsburghers who welcomed us at their home for the church picnic; or the West Virginian who took our picture at the scenic overlook. You realize the distance between us is greater and lesser than you might have imagined.

Anna and Will had a great time, although they didn't think it should have taken so long to get to Aunt Heidi and Uncle Gary's house. They marveled at seeing mountains for the first time and how the rocks looked like giant stairs; they were excited to stay in a hotel twice; they were in awe of all their cousins' toys. They loved the dinosaurs, amusement park rides, polar bears and tigers... skyscrapers, the Children's Museum, driving through tunnels, swinging, eating out. What more could a kid want? Oh, right. Now they're asking when we can go to Disney World!

Potty Talk

Somewhere along the way in the greening of America, someone came up with the genius idea of automatic flush toilets. Let me just say it was not a parent of small children. Sure, initially it sounds like a good idea... save some water, increase cleanliness, whatever. But the fact is these toilets were not engineered for the 40-pound people who may need to sit on them.

So we're at a restaurant for lunch today and Will has to go potty. We walk into the restroom and I notice the automatic flusher, but refrain from commenting so as not to induce a Refusal To Potty. Will sits down and starts to "go" and in a minute the potty flushes, much to his displeasure. Luckily it was not a loud flush like some toilets make. The toilet flushed three times while he was on it, stressing out the little guy so he couldn't even finish his business and using extra water for no good reason.

Anna and Will have actually Refused To Potty on various occasions upon noticing an automatic flushing toilet, and I can't say that I blame them. The only thing worse than the auto-flusher might be the automatic hand dryer, especially those high-powered ones that threaten to damage your hearing while saving the environment. Will accidentally walked underneath an auto-dryer recently and had no kind words to say about it! Wouldn't it be nice to have an override switch available or an old-fashioned alternative as a back-up plan when needed? I know my kids would appreciate it.